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Targeting Your Push-Up Muscles
1. Incorporate push-ups into a total health exercise regimen. Though push-ups are a brilliant form of all-body exercise, you should also be doing other exercises to work concentrated muscle groups and promote total fitness. Other good exercises that you can do at home, or with a simple set of hand weights, include:
Squats
Planks
Burpees
Russian swings
Leg raises
Split-jumps
2.Do chest curls. Push-ups target your pectoral muscles and your triceps primarily. Another exercise that does the same thing and can be done with a set of hand weights is the chest curl, also known as the butterfly curl.
Use a set of weights that will be challenging for 10-15 reps. Lie back on a weight bench, your hands together, raised straight above your chest. Keeping your arms extended and straight, lower the weights by spreading your arms apart, dropping them to each side, even with your chest. Exhale, and bring your arms back together above your chest to complete the rep.
3. Do pec rows. Pectoral rows are a lot like reverse push-ups, and require hand weights that are challenging for 10-15 reps. It's an excellent way of working out the same muscles and giving yourself a variation on your basic routine.
Stand with your back straight and one weight in each hand, then lean forward at a 45-degree angle, keeping your back very straight. Lower the weights straight down, then bring them up slowly, engaging your triceps and pecs, flexing your arm at a 90-degree angle, like a push-up. Lower the weight slowly. Do sets of 15.
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4. Try raised guillotine push-ups. If you want to start getting extreme and challenging yourself to do more push-ups, raised guillotines are a great way to do it. These involve basically dipping slightly lower than a traditional push-up, by raising the rest of your body somewhat. This isolates your shoulders slightly more than regular push-ups. Only do this if you're able to do basic push-ups with proper form.
Put your hands on two barbells or medicine balls to raise up slightly higher. Prop your feet on something of a similar height, if necessary. Lower yourself until your chest is even with the prop.
5. Try other push-up variations. If you get tired of doing regular push-ups, you can use the basic technique to isolate other upper-body muscle groups and get more out of your workouts. Try the following push-up variations:
Planche push-ups involve propping your feet up higher and help to isolate your chest muscles.
One-handed push-ups involve putting your one arm toward the center of your body, increasing the resistance for each arm.
Maltese push-ups involve moving your hands down closer to your waist, isolating your back muscles.
Diamond push-ups isolate the triceps and are done by putting your hands into a "diamond" pattern, touching your thumbs and your forefingers on the ground.
Bridge push-ups involve hand weights. To do one, grip the hand weights and do a basic push-up, then twist your body to one side, raising one arm straight into the air. Go back down and do another push-up, then twist up to the other side and raise the other arm. These are hard.
See you in the next article.
Artemus Vazhui